Customer Reviews

Siemens SX66 PDA Phone (AT&T)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This phone is meant for people who need to work with email and simple office files (Excel and Word) while on the road, but do not want to carry a laptop. It will display photos and short movies with ease.

Even though I am an AT&T wireless customer, I bought this phone a few days ago at a local Cingular store without a contract. The phone came unlocked, which means that I can use it an any GSM network, including ATT&T and T-Mobile.

The phone feels solid and well built. The signal strength seems pretty good, at least as good as my old ATT&T phones. Voice quality is good, even though its a little akward to hold a PocketPC to your ear. The screen gets smudged easily. I bought a Motorola bluetooth headset, so that I can keep the phone in my pocket. On other boards people complained about spotty blue tooth compatibility, but Siemens now has a downloadable firmware upgrade on their web site. I have had no problems with the headset. The sound is loud and clear.

I have unlimited data access through ATT&T for $20/month, so I went online and found the settings needed to change the GPRS settings from Cingular to ATT&T. I can now access the Internet over GPRS, but I cannot yet access my ATT&T Mmode home page. I will keep researching.

This is a great phone for anyone interested in a Pocket PC. It is loaded with GSM/GPRS, Bluetooth, and 802.11b. The only thing missing is FM and Satelite radio :)

It also has plenty of onboard memory, more than other high-end Pocket PCs (like the HP 4705).

Cons:

* Microsoft should upgrade the file explorer so that you can open files from over the LAN. The built in file explorer allows you to browse and copy files from local PCs, but not open them. For example, I want to play my MP3s from my desktop anywhere in the house, without first having to copy. There are 3rd party file explorers that let you do this (I found VM Net Browser online), but they cost money.

* The wireless manager is nice, allowing you to switch between Wifi, GPRS, and bluetooth networking, however it would be nicer if it had the option to auto switch when a preferred network is found.

* Cingular does not offer any extended warranties on PDAs. For $650 this is ridiculous. I love the phone, but I might return it just for this reason. Electronics tend to brake down easily.

* The keyboard looks nice, especially with the blue backlight. However, I find that typing with the stylus and the on-screen keyboard is sometimes faster for me.

* Does not have a built in voice dialer like other phones costing half as much. Kind of defeats the purpose of bluetooth. (Microsoft has a separate voice command software package, but again it cost extra).

* For this price, there should be more bundled software, specially for networking.

* Many websites with client-side Javascript crash Internet explorer (such as ZDNet.com).

* With such a small screen, you have to scroll alot on web pages. There are layout settings where the phone will resize web sites into a single column, but this sometimes makes the web siteunreadable. The phone also, allows you to rotate the screen horizontally, but this is still only 320px, and most web sites are developed for 1024px and higher. You only see 1/3 of the page.

* The phone only has an SD slot. CompactFlash would be nice so that I could use my Samsung 4GB HD.

* There is no built in screen cover, like the Ipaq 4705. Since this is a phone that will be pulled in and out of my pocket alot, I am worried that I will scratch the screen.

Even with all the cons, I really love the phone. I am a programmer and can develop software easily for it. Being a PocketPC, it can be expanded easily, and most of the cons can be worked around (for a price). I would recommend this for anyone who needs the extra functionality of a PDA.

The Siemens SX66 is a WIndows CE based Smartphone designed for business use. For Consumer purposes it is a bit of an overkill and is not particularly optimized for some entertainment purposes. This review is written mostly with business use in mind (I use it with a Goodlink e-mail client) I also include some consumer comments at the end.

Screen and Input modes.
The SX66 includes a large screen that fits more elements than other smaller screen phones. This is particularly useful to browse through e-mails. It gives you a choice of typing via a qwerty keyboard or through a virtual keyboard and your stylus. It includes many programmable keys that are mapped to many Windows applications, such as Explorer, e-mail, calendaring, tasks and phone answer/hang up.

Other useful tools: for talking you can use it as any phone, use its wired headset (included) or use its speakerphone. You can also use it in combination with a bluetooth wireless earpiece. It also has a built in camera and a voice recorder.

Business Applications
As many other Windows CE handhelds (PDAs or smartphones) you can find many applications both for business as well as for consumer purposes. Coupled with an e-mail business client software (e.g. Goodlink) you can have Blackberry-like functionality as your e-mails, meetings and other corporate e-mail items can be pushed into your handheld via GPRS or WiFi. One nice thing about the SX66 vs. Blackberry is that the SX66 with the included software can open most MS Office attachments (and you can even edit some of them).

Using this phone for business apps (e-mail, calendar, etc) this phone is a great tool. Its large screen and its keyboard options allow for great e-mail reading and for composing short e-mails and SMS messages. For large e-mails, honestly, your notebook is a much better tool.

Battery Usage / Power Options
Battery duration is good but not great for regular phone use, it will typically last one day. If you use it heavily for e-mail or for PDA apps (e.g. taking notes) its battery life greatly diminishes to less than one day. There are many packages in the market so you can charge it in the middle of the day via USB, USB cradle, car charger or regular power adapters. The good news in any of them is that it charges really quickly, so can be back to full charge in about 1 hr.

Networking options
The networking options are many and very useful. It can operate on quad-band GSM (operates in most countries), it can hook to GPRS, WiFi and Bluetooth nets. It also has infrared connectivity to connect to other portable devices. GPRS is available in most GSM cellular networks, and it will give you pretty much ubiquitous access but slow speeds (it is good for e-mail clients, as they typically push text into the handhelds), for faster access use WiFi and connect in the same networks you connect on your notebook.

Consumer usage
- Not as good performing video. I have tried a couple of times to play home videos (e.g. 30 sec shots taken with my digital camera) and it has basically stalled and taken long to recover.
- Not as good performing games, its video performance makes it unpractical.
- Built in camera lacks the quality and resolution and is below some lower cost phones.

PROS
- Large screen, larger than most phones in the market.
- Variety of input modes.
- Variety of tools.
- Very good software included out of the box.
- Pre-programmed buttons allow quick access to most useful functions.
- Variety of Wireless networks to connect.
- Good-sized memory included, can be increased greatly using an SD-Card.

CONS
- Battery life is limited. Needs midday recharging if you use PDA or e-mail heavily trough the day.
- Included camera has very limited resolution, pictures come out with a lot of noise and its colors are not that great.
- Lack of EDGE networks support.
- A bit heavy and large format, you need to use its carrying case.
- Video playing is very poor. Don't even bother trying.

I recently migrated to this phone from a Treo 600 that had a mountain biking accident :-)

The SX66 (HTC is the ODM, "Blue Angel" is the model) is better than the Treo 600 in the following respects:
* More stable - No hung phones/frozen unit in 3 weeks of operation
* Better sound quality for other party - had lots of complaints regarding Treo 600
* WiFi - can't say enough about how handy this is
* Synchronization with Outlook actually works better than Palm Desktop/Hotsync.
* I can sync remotely with ActiveSync - this is also very handy
* Screen quality is better (roughly on par with Treo 650). No backlighting/sunlight visibility problems, either
* Speakerphone is louder and clearer than Treo. I actually use speakerphone mode a lot just to hear other party in noisy environments.
* Keyboard is more intuitive - keys are better placed. Also a slight negative - keyboard must be slid out for use and back when not in use (it's clunky to leave it out).
* Mic imparts less road noise in a car. When using my Treo in a car the other party complained bitterly and often hung up. No such problem with the SX66.


Negatives
* Sound volume is just too low - very hard to hear anyone in a car unless in speakerphone mode
* I haven't tried Bluetooth yet due to all the complaints I've read about. However, my phone did have the latest Bluetooth stack from Siemens (v1.1 Bluetooth), and I'll keep track of interfering signals such as 2.5GHz phones and 802.11b/g.
* Selecting phone number to call out is "clicky" - takes extra steps compared to Treo unless you leave the keyboard in the "deployed" position. The Microsoft Voice Dialing software ($39 or so) eliminates this hassle, but only works with wired headsets or direct speaking. Still, a big improvement over the extra clicking.
* GPRS and WiFi don't always come up in the order I would like, and switching between them is a little bit clicky (lots of steps). You can configure the phone to get around this, but that takes a fair bit of Windows Mobile expertise or RTFM.

Conclusion:
If sound quality/volume were better, this would be an outstanding phone. 4-band lets me use it anywhere (I'll unlock this before trips to Asia), and I have all my contacts, all the time, and can sync from anywhere. If I can get Bluetooth to work properly with good volume control, I'll revise my rating to 5/5.

My husband gave me the Siemens SX66 PDA Phone for Christmas. I am a very organized person and decided it was time to get some help. I had the LG G4050 Cellular phone and loved it. I am a small person and carry a very tiny purse, so the thought of having to carry/keep up with a phone and a PDA was not pleasant. It works great both as phone and a PDA. I have no complaints!
Well, I did have one problem, when I tried to sync the PDA and my PC. But that was operator error, ;-) - my phone numbers were rearranged. My difficulty has been waiting for accessories.
We bought a Gig of Memory and the Motorola HS 810 Blue tooth and have had nothing but fun and functionality from it.
-Usually, when I read reviews, the complaints about this phone are:
1) Cost: When you think about it, it is really reasonable. Price = Cellular Phone + PDA ???
2) Size - It's better than carrying 2 different devices trust me and I carry it on my hip.
3) Phone Quality - I don't have any problems. My previous phone would not pick up at my house (in a valley) but this one works from anywhere. I have Cingular and they do a great job.
I wouldn't trade it for anything; it keeps my fragile little world in check.
Great Product 5 STARS!!!!!

on the whole, I really like my SX66. The reception I get with Cingular (even after the takeover) is not quite what I got with my old AT&T phone, so I believe this is due to the phone itself.

For talking on, the quality is certainly acceptable, but by no means the best cell phone I've ever had. A hands free device is a good thing to have since the phone itself is rather bulky.

That brings us to the downsides:

* The included hands free microphone/headset broke within a month.
* The bluetooth headset I bought (Jabra BT250) has generates a pretty consistent amount of static if the phone is more than a foot or two from the headset.

Everything is functional, and because of the data capabilities I have to say I like the phone and wouldn't trade it in for another, but it'd be a definite 5 star device if they could iron out the bluetooth static issue.

I've owned two Blackberries, two IPAQs, two of the MSDN promo ViewSonics Pocket PCs, some monochrome Palm that I never used, and an MPX220 Smartphone. This is the first device that actually gets close to being a real "pocket pc". It's got the QWERTY keyboard of a Blackberry with the platform of a Smartphone, and it's extremely easy to use. I find myself leaving my laptop in my office in favor of carrying around my "phone" for browsing during commercials, halftime, vacation. I still want native tabbed browsing, IMAP root folder support, WI-FI priority over the default GPRS connection when checking email, a stock ssh client, etc. It's a little hefty for holding up to your ear for extended conversations, but a bluetooth headset takes care of that. All in all, I'm really happy with the device.

I've had my Siemens SX66 since August 2005 (this is December 2005).

The LCD on my PDA phone cracked after just 35 days of use.
NO, I didn't drop it or step on it. I don't know how or why it cracked. The only thing I can think of is I may have had it on my hip in the leather holster that comes with it and leaned against something.

CRACKED LCD IS NOT COVERED BY ANY WARRANTY.

Once the LCD is cracked you can't make phone calls, or do much else with the PDA for that matter. (You can still answer incoming calls).

It cost me $175 to send to Siemens to have LCD replaced.

I still love the phone.

I strongly recommend you buy the aluminum protective case for it, rather than using the leather holster provided.

(Disclaimer: this review is based on the Qtek9090, a OEM version of this unit)

Recommended. As a laptop replacement it doesn't meet the mark, but as a mobile workhorse, in airports and on the road it gets the job done. Mine gets primary use as a mobile e-mail system (using the Good technology push-mail solution), which it does perfectly.

High marks for usefullness, low marks for battery endurance (and I don't use it as a mobile phone at all!). An additional plus is the abundance of software available for it, in stark contrast to my previous mobile workhorse, the Nokia 9500. I do however miss a USB-Host possiblity (I'd love to be able to use my USB sticks with it).

Where I work, there are dozens of people with Treo 650s. I hear many complaints from them, while I have few complaints about my SX-66. I had an SX-56 (very similar but w/o the slide-out keyboard) and upgraded.

My general comments:
+ The SX-56 was a "frequent crasher," as in several times a day. The SX-66, thankfully, does not have this problem.
+ I use it for PDA ability far more than I use it as a phone, including using it as an appointment calendar, a checkbook register, a notepad, a sketchpad, a photo album, and a calculator.
+ I use it for games, also, including Scrabble and Sim City. It's easy to find good games that are free, and the games that are not free are not terribly expensive.
+ The included MS Office apps, and the available Adobe PDF reader, make it a handy accessory for document handling also. I kept my e-book textbooks in it while I was doing my MBA and I often have work-related documents in it as well.

I almost never use the keyboard, I'm much faster with the stylus-driven onscreen keyboard (probably because I had the SX-56).

- It's still a bit big, for a phone. Not bad for a PDA though.
- My stylus broke...partly my fault since I decided it also makes a handy letter opener, but the "back end" of the stylus is cheap plastic rather than metal. A $700 phone shouldn't have a single cheap part.
- There is STILL no built-in capacity to specialize ringtones by caller. You can find software to do it, but this should have been part of the phone in the first place.

I've had this phone now for about two months and am happy with it for the primary reason of purchase, which was the ability to handle work email from the road and have that integrated with a mobile phone so that I can more conveniently carry it with me. Since my company has Exchange server, it works great for that purpose.

One of the secondary uses though is to serve as an audio file player during the off hours. One warning there is that the device comes with Windows Media Player version 9, and not the latest version 10. That's fine for playing MP3 and WMA audio files that you own. But, for those who might be interested in the new subscription music services from Yahoo, MSN and Napster, version 10 is required. Further, it is up to Siemens when, if ever, they'll release a firmware upgrade of the phone operating system to include WMP version 10. Siemens customer service was unable to provide any information on when, if ever, they might do that.